Good morning, welcome to Wednesday, and welcome to September!
Technically speaking, the first day of fall is still 21 days away. That will be the fall equinox when the lengths of the day and the night will be almost exactly the same in most locations.
Fall will end on the December Solstice, which is the start of the astronomical winter season. Meteorologists, however, would tell you that fall begins today and ends at the close of November.
The September equinox usually occurs on Sept. 22 or 23, and can very rarely fall on Sept. 21 or 24, though a the former has not occurred for several millennia. 24. In the 21st century, it will happen twice – in 2092 and 2096.
The equinox dates vary because of the difference between how the Gregorian calendar defines a year (365 days) and the time it takes for theEarth to complete its orbit around the Sun (which is just about 365 and 1/4 days).
This means that each September equinox occurs about 6 hours later than the one that occurred the pervious year, and eventually that all adds up to an entire 24-hour period, moving the date by a whole day.
Neat!
Today also happens to be Emma M. Nutt Day, celebrating the life of the very first female telephone operator, who started her post on this very day in 1878. She was a pioneer in an industry that came to be known as one that was dominated by women, but was once upon a time reserved entirely for men.
Boys who had the job were reportedly lacking in patience, which is not a good trait to have when trying to connect someone to their intended party at the other end of a very wonky phone line.
Nutt joined theNew England Telephone Company, and it wasn’t long before her cultured, gentle voice set the standard for what an operator was supposed to sound like. She worked a 54-hour week at a rate of $10 a month and, legend has it, memorized every number in the company directory.
It’s going to be a very fall-like day from a weather perspective, with temperatures in the mid-60s and rain showers in the morning that change over to steady rain in the afternoon.
The punishing tropical storm that tore through the Gulf Coast leaving four dead in Louisiana and Mississippi and hundreds of thousands of people without power is heading to the New York area, bringing with it torrential rains and powerful winds.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden offered a vigorous defense of his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, defending the chaotic withdrawal from Kabul a day after the last American military planes left the country.
Biden hailed what he called the “extraordinary success” of the evacuation of Kabul and defended his decision to end the war, just one day after the end of a two-week rescue of 125,000 people from Kabul that saw the deaths of 13 service members.
The full transcript of Biden’s speech can be found here.
From the tarmac where the last American plane had departed from Afghanistan’s capital around midnight, the Taliban’s spokesman declared victory in their two-decade fight against U.S. occupation.
Polls show that Americans support Biden’s withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, but disagree with the way he went about it.
Oklahoma Rep. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican, allegedly threatened U.S. Embassy staffers in Tajikistan when requesting assistance in transporting a large amount of cash into the country in his attempt to enter neighboring Afghanistan.
As hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana faced the prospect of punishingly hot weeks ahead without electricity, officials urged those who had fled before the onslaught of Hurricane Ida to stay away indefinitely as the long slog of recovery began.
The mayor of New Orleans imposed an 8 p.m. curfew last night as the city continued to struggle with the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, which left the metropolis without power and vulnerable to looters.
Schools are closed indefinitely. Officials say power will be out for up to a month. Cell service is spotty, and hospitals already burdened by Covid-19 are relying on generators and water reserves since water and sewer outages are widespread.
Hospitals in and around New Orleans continued to operate on backup power and emergency staffing protocols, and some were forced to evacuate after damage from Hurricane Ida’s powerful winds.
Consumer confidence fell to a six-month low in August, as COVID-19 infections soared nationwide amid an outbreak driven by the highly infectious delta variant.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recorded a public service announcement urging the unvaccinated to get with the times.
Two of the FDA’s top vaccine regulators will leave the agency this fall, a development that could disrupt its work on deciding whether to recommend coronavirus vaccines for children under 12 and booster shots for the general population.
Covid-19 vaccines are still “stunningly effective” despite fears that immunity may dwindle over time, experts have said.
The Social Security trust fund most Americans rely on for their retirement will run out of money in 12 years, one year sooner than expected due to the pandemic, according to an annual government report published yesterday.
Doctors say it’s crucial to protect children against the Delta variant – not just for the sake of their health and to keep in-person learning, but also to help prevent more aggressive variants from setting the entire country back.
As a new coronavirus wave accelerated by the Delta variant spreads across the U.S., many Republican governors have taken sweeping action to combat what they see as an even more urgent danger posed by the pandemic: the threat to personal freedom.
Florida’s Department of Health changed the way COVID-19 deaths are counted in the state as the delta variant was spreading, which led to an “artificial decline” in deaths.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, said he would be deploying additional National Guard personnel to assist state hospitals overwhelmed by recent surges in COVID-19 cases among unvaccinated communities.
Google is delaying its planned return to the office for corporate staff until Jan. 10, becoming the latest large company to extend work-from-home protocols amid rising Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations.
Southwest Airlines’ pilots have sued their employer, alleging that the carrier has been making unilateral changes to working conditions, including no longer paying them during quarantines following Covid-19 exposure.
Gene Simmons, the bassist and co-lead singer of the rock band, has tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the group to postpone its next four tour dates. He’s the second band member to get infected with the virus.
At the Detroit Zoo, animal caretakers have begun vaccinating its most vulnerable animal groups against Covid-19 including gorillas, chimpanzees, tigers and lions.
A new study out of Albany Medical Center and Albany Medical College found that the standard test used to diagnose COVID-19 is sensitive enough to detect the coronavirus for days and even weeks after it’s no longer infectious.
A flurry of COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates in New York recently has ignited a heated legal debate, and at least one lawsuit, challenging the government’s authority to impose rules to protect public health.
Fifteen people were charged in what the Manhattan District Attorney’s office called a fake vaccine card conspiracy.
Thirteen of the people who have been charged and allegedly purchased the fake cards are “believed to work in frontline and essential-employee settings, including hospitals and nursing homes,” and one went by the online moniker “AntiVaxMomma.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul has tapped an Obama administration veteran, Adrienne Harris, to be the state’s top financial regulator, officials said.
Hochul called the state Legislature back into session tomorrow at noon to extend the state’s eviction moratorium through Jan. 15.
Hochul began making up for what her disgraced predecessor failed to do — by ordering a special session of the state Legislature to consider extending the eviction moratorium and her picks to regulate legal marijuana production and sales.
“We’re not going to exacerbate what is already a crisis in terms of the homelessness problem,” Hochul said. “We are not going to allow people who through no fault of their own lost income, were not able to pay and are facing eviction.”
Hochul announced $65 million for local health departments to distribute the imminent booster COVID-19 vaccines as the new governor continued to mark her differences from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in her messaging and approach to public health.
Hochul said she’s seeking “the legal clearance” to mandate COVID-19 testing on unvaccinated public and charter school workers across the state — but shots in arms are her long-term goal.
New York has a COVID-19 vaccine mandate in place for hospital and nursing home staff, and Hochul wants to expand it to cover all state-regulated facilities and congregate settings.
Hochul said she will work with localities, the state health department, and other health agencies to put in place a mandatory weekly COVID-19 testing program for unvaccinated public and charter school employees.
A coalition that includes former independent candidates for governor called on Hochul and state lawmakers to back a reform plan that would allow voters to cast ballots in primaries regardless of party affiliation and put term limits in place.
So when she showed up yesterday in Buffalo for her first news conference since taking the oath of office, Hochul opened up by thanking the many local leaders she has worked with and made it clear that she would share the road going forward.
Hochul said she would not make any “local endorsements” when asked if she would back the mayoral candidacy of Democratic Socialist India Walton in Buffalo.
The Buffalo Bills’ proposed new $1.4 billion stadium would include about 60,000 seats and 60 suites.
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio again blasted the state court system, insisting that a lag in criminal trials has led to an “absence of consequences” he says is emboldening New Yorkers to commit crime.
Tens of thousands of city students with disabilities missed out on legally-mandated services last school year during the pandemic, and advocates and lawmakers say the city’s plan to make up for the lost support is still hazy on key details.
Nearly three-quarters of FDNY workers who worked amongst the smoldering, toxic rubble at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan now have some sort of long-term illness linked to their service, according to a new report.
In one of the strongest signs yet that the art market will not look the same after the pandemic, four prominent NYC dealers have made the unorthodox decision to consolidate under one roof.
Nancy Sliwa, wife of NYC Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, is running as a Republican against Gale Brewer for the Upper West Side City Council District 6 seat.
Six overdose deaths over three days in Suffolk County reflect a dangerous shift in the street-drug marketplace, according to police and prosecutors.
The City of Albany’s COVID-19 Recovery Taskforce has issued a 76-page report designed to help guide the city as it prepares to make the first decisions on how to spend the $80 million in American Rescue Plan funding.
A City of Albany police officer who was caught on video using racist language in a conversation about gun violence in the city lost his appeal to keep his job.
Janeen DiGuiseppi, the first woman to permanently lead the FBI in the Capital Region, offers a direct, no-nonsense approach befitting the Air Force veteran who served nearly nine years.
Stuyvesant Plaza is offering shoppers $20 vouchers for spending their money with at least five of the 30 participating stores and restaurants during the month of September.
Two public informational meetings are scheduled for Sept. 8 and 9 on a proposed $65 million settlement in a class-action case involving three companies blamed for polluting public and private water supplies in and around the village of Hoosick Falls.
The $30 million-plus redevelopment of Troy’s 1 Monument Square will take place above ground with a six-story mixed used building proposed by Hoboken Brownstone Co. and below ground with a repositioning of sewer, water and other utilities by the city.
After more than a year’s hiatus, the NYS Writers Institute at the University at Albany has announced their fall season, which includes speakers who range from attorneys general to Nobel Prize-winning scientists.
A big milestone occurred this week in the state Thruway’s complete transformation to a cashless system as the very last toll booths came down.
A strict new measure that essentially bans abortions in Texas went into effect at midnight, despite protests and lawsuits against the harsh mandate.
Mike Richards is off “Jeopardy!” completely, fired from his job as executive producer of the long-running game show amid a controversy that led him to relinquish the role of full-time host less than two weeks ago.
Britney Spears claims she’s being extorted by her dad Jamie as he allegedly tries to place “preconditions” on his exit from her “exhausting and terrifying” conservatorship.
